A Sweet Little Lunch Time
by JoeBoBean
Summary: Even with the fear of being rejected again Peter reaches out to Emma to ask her out to lunch. Will this be the continuation of a cute little friendship or the start of something more? Set sometime after the finale when the fallout over Claire's "stunt" has settled and everything is back to "normal".


_AN: This is a tiny little bit of fluff that I wrote after watching the final season since I watched it in like a day and a bit since it was sadly so short. I loved the new characters they brought in for the end of it and Emma was so darn cute, bless Deanne Bray. Anywho I loved the idea of Peter being able to share in her ability and them mutually seeing the beauty in the everyday noise that she tries to ignore. I don't own Heroes because if I did season 2 would not exist. Well most parts of it anyway._

She saw his white paramedic's uniform before she saw his face and felt her heart skip a beat. He had been doing it a lot lately, loitering around the file room always on the verge of coming in, but never quite making it over the threshold. Emma didn't know why, but since the incident at Central Park Peter had been wary of her; as if he was trying to give her some space; her own room to breathe. He had always been the one person that didn't handle her with kid gloves, but now it seemed that he was going to, but no matter how much she tired she just couldn't hate him for it. He circled the file room again the flash of white visible as he passed the windows and then he walked in and when Emma looked up in to his face he was smiling at her sheepishly.

"What is it Peter?" she asked out loud and Peter smiled more broadly as he began to sign a little disjointedly,

"Would you like to go out to lunch with me?" he asked with his hands as his lips moved to mirror the action. "I mean if you're busy it's not a problem…" he added quickly an uncharacteristic blush covering his cheeks.

"I'd love to," Emma replied grinning from ear to ear, "I guess you're buying?" Peter looked up at her and grinned back as he nodded shifting his fringe in to his eyes.

"Of course, where do you want to go?" he asked back his hands gestures a little quicker showing his increasing confidence. Emma pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and sighed; no man she had ever been with had asked her that; it seemed to her that they thought being deaf made her somehow incapable of making decisions, even ones as simple as where to eat. Peter watched her closely and almost adoringly if she was reading it right and it made her heart do a little flip in her chest.

"How about the diner across the street I've never been there," Emma eventually replied Peter and smiled again nodding,

"That sounds perfect. How long do you have?" he asked glancing first at his watch and then Emma's desk.

"I have an hour… you?" She asked suddenly worried that she'd made the wrong choice for the venue,

"All the time in the world my shift ended fifteen minutes ago."

"You aren't taking another shift?"

"No, I don't do that anymore, I don't have to save everyone." Emma raised her eyebrows in a questioning way before speaking again,

"Really is that so?" she asked as she took her head phones out and placed them on her desk, making Peter smile again.

"Yeah it's totally true; I don't have to save everyone. We all have a job to do and we work with the cards we are given." Emma wanted to ask if this was because of what Claire did in front of the media and that Peter was worried that they may start to suspect him if he was the superhuman paramedic, but she didn't have the guts to ask and at the same time she didn't want to ruin the moment. She liked the chance of having Peter to herself instead of having to share him with the world. "So you ready to head out?" he asked motioning to the door and Emma nodded. She walked passed him and he tapped her on the shoulder to make her turn to face him,

"What?" she asked looking confused, she watched as Peter tensed a little and then he signed again, his movements slow and unsure as if he was scared of his own request?

"Can I hold your hand?" he asked hiding his eyes behind his fringe, his lips little more than thin quivering lines. Emma felt her face heat up and she had to turn away as the embarrassment was threatening to swallow her whole. She stood thinking about it for a second and then she nodded putting her hand out towards him, she didn't look as he wrapped his hand around hers, but she felt his warmth smother her own as her petite hand got lost in his.

They walked to the diner in silence as it was hard to sign when they each only had one hand. Especially when lip reading was made more difficult by side profiles, but neither of them minded. As they walked Emma felt a tingle pass over her fingers and glanced at Peter who was once again smiling.

As they walked out the automatic doors of the hospital in to the busy street Emma watched as the cars gave off striking blues and purples and the ringtones of passersby gave out curls of the lightest orange. She looked up in to Peter's face again and saw that his eyes were darting from one apparent sound source to another and she realised what the tingling had meant, at that second he had copied her power and was enjoying the light show as much as she was. They took their time crossing the road to the diner as they were both distracted by how beautiful the city could be just though its monotonous everyday sounds. Even though Emma couldn't hear them and had never been able too she could imagine that the sound was not as beautiful if you could hear it, she didn't think that traffic or a man doing construction could be anything more than painful, but to her the colours on the wind were hypnotic and enticing making it a perfect symphony.

When they got inside the diner the light show continued from the girl bussing the tables to the constant stream of purple and pink coming from the kitchen. Peter chose a booth in the back that had a perfect view of the world outside and the kitchen inside so Emma could see the colours from both and it made her want to hug him; so hard, but she restrained herself as she didn't want to scare him. He passed her a menu and then poured over his own smiling gently as he did so. Emma watched every inflection of emotion pass over his handsome face. She still couldn't believe that she had never met him before the file incident three weeks ago; she felt like she had missed out so much not having known him for longer than that. She glanced at the menu and in an instant knew what she wanted so went back to watching Peter as his nose wrinkled at some of the less than savoury food and the way the corners of his eyes wrinkled and he blinked when he smiled, even if it was just a small curve of his lips.

She would never admit it to him, but she loved everything about him from his compassion and empathy to his good looks and perfect work record, but she found it hard to believe that he could even be attracted to her.

"Can I take your order?" the waitress asked Peter and he turned his head,

"Oh yeah sure." he turned back to Emma and signed skilfully at her this time. "Do you know what you want?" he asked and Emma saw the waitress visibly melt at the fact that Peter could do _ASL_ Emma had to admit that the speed in which he had learnt was impressive, but that wasn't the reason why her heart skipped a beat each time she saw him. Emma nodded and turned to the waitress who looked at her oddly as if she shouldn't be sat with Peter; Emma didn't take offence, she never in a million years expected a man like him to take any form of interest in her.

"I'd like a cup of coffee please and a stack of blueberry pancakes with extra butter and extra syrup." The waitress looked stunned that Emma could speak and Emma saw Peter tense with anger like he was about to jump to her defence; it made her feel all warm inside that he did want to protect her. Then she thought about it and she already knew that he did, he'd gone to such lengths to save her at the _Carnival_ that it proved he cared for her at least that much.

"And you sir?" the waitress asked in a voice that Emma imagined was sweet, sugary and far too flirty to be allowed in a family diner, but no matter how she sounded Peter didn't seemed bothered by it he kept his eyes on Emma a small smile playing on his lips.

"I'd like a thick chocolate milk shake, please… and an all day breakfast with extra bacon and extra hash browns." Emma wrinkled her nose and Peter grinned lopsidedly.

"Okay coming right up," the waitress said and left them in peace. Emma turned to look at the window and watched the colours swirl and bend: coming from a bus back firing and a hot dog seller shouting about his wares. Emma was lost in the world outside when Peter tapped her hand lightly to get her attention. She turned to face him and he began to sign,

"I never asked you this before, but why did you 'summon' me to your apartment? I mean out of everyone in the city why me?" He threw up his hands in a shrug as if to show her without a shadow of a doubt that he didn't think he was worth all the effort. Emma could feel the colour rise in her cheeks and saw Peter's eyebrows rise in response to her embarrassment.

"No reason," she said out loud looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Peter raised his eyebrows higher and signed without moving his lips,

"Okay if you say so," he said with a sly smile. He watched as Emma's lip quivered and then she turned to him and spoke her voice wavering,

"You are the only friend I have," she said, "I was told that my new power could summon people, like a siren… and you were the first person I thought of." Peter laid his hand on top of Emma's and winked at her,

"I'm flattered." At that Emma went bright red and had to turn away from him entirely, she wanted to move her hand from under Peter's but the warmth that she found there made it hard to move. He squeezed her hand gently until she turned back to him, "Sorry," he said softly "I didn't mean to embarrass you."

"Why did you invite me to lunch?" she asked her voice just above a whisper as if she was worried about being heard,

"Because I like you," Peter replied with both his lips and hands, Emma looked him in the eye and saw that he wasn't lying. However she still couldn't quite believe it. Before either of them could say anymore their food arrived and they began eating in silence, but from what Emma could feel it was a comfortable silence, it wasn't the awkward silences that she was used to. Normally when she had a date (not that it happened often she had to admit) the person she was with didn't know how to act because she couldn't hear. Not Peter he was as relaxed and as normal as ever and as she watched him devour his bacon she realised that the first time he had asked her out to lunch he really didn't mean to hurt her feelings. He really did just want her to take a trip outside of the file room and enjoy what was there. Emma ate her pancakes delicately taking a corner of each one at a time; she was amazed at the speed at which Peter ate his breakfast and when he noticed she was staring he smiled sheepishly. "I was hungrier than I thought," he replied and Emma smiled. She sat and ate her pancakes slowly glancing up to watch Peter as he watched her eat. There was nothing in his posture that made her think he was annoyed at the time she was taking. Instead his eyes were soft and warm as if he was getting enjoyment of simply sitting in the diner with her.

When she finally lay her cutlery down on her plate, he smiled and leant across the table as he spoke to her,

"You have something on your cheek," Emma raised a hand to tell him she could sort it out herself, but Peter shook his head. He lightly licked his thumb and rubbed at the blueberry stain at the corner of her mouth until the purple had disappeared. Emma waited for his hand to move away so she could breathe again, but it didn't instead Peter put a lock of hair behind her ear and then laid his palm against her cheek. Before she could stop herself Emma found herself leaning in to his palm and falling in to his eyes. He leant further across the table and pressed his lips softly against hers as if testing the water before he moved back to see the light shine in her eyes. He dropped his hand from her face so he could sign at her, "Is it okay?" he asked his hands a little shaky, Emma let out her breath and nodded, Peter bit his lip as he smiled in the nervous way she had once seen before and it made her giddy.

Peter stood up from his side of the booth and moved around to sit next to her; she shivered slightly as he put one of his hands on her lap as he moved in close. The kiss was chaste and sweet, but it was still enough to leave Emma's head in a whirl as Peter pulled back he smiled softly.

"If we stay any longer you'll be late for work." he said signing and speaking this time as Emma rested her head on his shoulder, she knew he was speaking out loud as she could feel the vibrations his voice was making in his throat. She watched as he signalled the waitress and paid for the cheque all the time with one arm around her shoulder making his signing when he spoke to her a little difficult, but she didn't care. He tapped her shoulder and stood up holding his hand out towards her and she took it gratefully making him smile all the more. Instead of standing watching the beauty of the sound they made their way briskly back to the file room and Peter sat her down. From his furrowed brow she could tell it was important.

"What is it?" she asked as she turned on her screen. Peter glanced at the door as if it was his escape, but then he steeled himself and began to sign without any words so the conversation was just them.

"I know you got rejected, but please don't give up. You will be an amazing doctor one day, I truly believe that." Emma's face dropped that was the last thing that she wanted Peter to know, she looked at the floor and he knelt before her. "Please don't cry," he signed, "I know you can do it and I will be here waiting when you do." She watched him as he rubbed the tears off her cheek and kissed her forehead softly. "I'm sorry for bringing it up," he said and she shook her head; realising it was better that he knew from the offset. "Will you go to dinner with me?" he asked still on his knees in front of her, "Tomorrow night, after your shift?" he continued and Emma had no idea how to answer. He watched her closely his hands clasping her face as he spoke to her.

"Why me?" Emma asked her voice shaking from the heavy breaths she was taking to combat the onslaught of sobs she was withholding,

"I thought that was obvious," Peter said with his signature smile as he rolled his eyes.

"No," Emma said back a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

"Do you want me to spell is out?" he asked biting his lip again trying not to smile this time and Emma nodded resting her forehead against his for a second. "I think I'm in love with you," he said first in spoken words and then in slow and deliberate signing so Emma couldn't mistake it. "So will you come to dinner with me tomorrow night?" he asked again hoping against all hope that he wouldn't be refused a second time. He waited for what seemed like an eternity and then Emma nodded her head ever so slightly. "Really?" he asked partially disbelieving.

"It's a date," she replied with a smile and leant down to kiss Peter, who kissed her back happily.


End file.
